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Crystal Palace have submitted a bid worth £8.5 million to sign a 21-year-old rising star who wants to move to Selhurst Park, according to a recent report.

Crystal Palace chasing two new midfielders for Glasner

While the Eagles continue to wait for clarification on whether they will be playing in the Europa League or not next season, people behind the scenes are working hard on potential transfers, as Oliver Glasner and co. plan to improve many areas of the team regardless of how many fronts they are asked to compete on.

Crystal Palace make approach to bring in £20m midfielder along with Diomande

Crystal Palace already have their eyes on their next transfer target amid talks with Diomande.

ByBrett Worthington Jun 23, 2025

Midfield appears to be the priority for the South Londoners at this moment in time, as they work on not just one but two new midfield signings. Last week, it was reported by Alan Nixon, via TBR Football, that Palace had made an approach to RC Lens over signing Andy Diouf.

Despite potentially having European football, Palace are aware they could lose Adam Wharton in this transfer window and therefore want to have a replacement ready. It would cost the Premier League side just £20 million to get a deal wrapped up.

As Palace weigh where to go next with a deal for Diouf, reports also claim the Eagles have made contact with Brighton & Hove Albion player Igor Julio over a potential move to Selhurst Park. The South Londoners are not the only Premier League team chasing a deal, as Wolverhampton Wanderers are also interested in signing the midfielder, but he is said to be prioritising a move out of England at this moment in time.

Crystal Palace submit £8.5m striker bid

Despite the excellent form of Jean-Philippe Mateta last season, the Eagles are in the market for a new striker as well as new midfielders. According to Africa Foot, Crystal Palace have made a 10 million euros (£8.5m) bid to sign Oumar Diakité from Stade de Reims.

The report states that given Stade de Reims’ relegation to Ligue 2, Diakite is among the players attracting interest across Europe. But Palace are the ones who have made a concrete move to sign the young striker, and the Eagles are in a good position to complete a transfer, as Diakite is keen on the move to Selhurst Park.

As well as making a bid, Palace have also offered the player a five-year contract and are ready to pay him 3.5 million euros a year, which is roughly £2.9 million. The concern Palace do face is that Stade de Reims are not rushing to sell the player and are waiting for more ‘miraculous’ offers to arrive.

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Palace’s interest in the 21-year-old is not new, as back in November it was reported that the Premier League side had identified Diakite as a long-term replacement for Mateta. The Ivory Coast international has shown in the last couple of seasons he knows where the back of the net is, but the hope will be for him to learn under the French star, not replace him.

Newcastle United have been a cut above the previous standard since Eddie Howe's arrival two years ago, having turned consistent relegation battles into a fight for European football and success on the continental scene.

The PIF takeover has, of course, been a crucial ingredient to their transformation, as the riches presented to the Englishman have allowed him to splash the cash in the transfer window.

While the likes of Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak were brought in as a result of this influx of investment – and have formed the backbone of their success – much credit has to go to Howe for his transformation of several fringe players, who were at the club prior to his arrival.

One of those is energetic midfielder Sean Longstaff.

Sean Longstaff's career so far

A product of Newcastle's youth academy – after joining at the age of nine – Longstaff has been plying his trade in black and white for 17 years but it's only recently where his attributes have been allowed to flourish.

The 26-year-old's journey towards first-team stardom has been a tricky one, as the early years of his development were blighted by injuries and this curtailed his chances of becoming a regular fixture in the senior setup.

From being loaned out to Kilmarnock and Blackpool between 2017 and 2018 to suffering multiple serious injuries that saw him miss 120 days of the 2018/19 campaign, Longstaff never managed to nail a place in the starting XI, but that all changed when Howe arrived at the club.

Now a crucial cog in Newcastle's side due to his boundless amounts of energy, who brings the best out of midfield partners Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes, Longstaff is an "unsung hero" as dubbed by pundit Paul Merson – who has popped up with some incredible moments for the Toon in recent times.

After scoring a brace in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Southampton last term to notching in the Champions League against PSG, it is clear to see why the term unsung hero is coined for the Englishman.

However, it's more than just his goals that have impressed the masses this term.

Sean Longstaff's current transfer value

Longstaff has appeared in all but one match for Newcastle this season, scoring three times and assisting once.

In addition to popping up with match-winning moments from midfield, the 26-year-old has demonstrated his ability to drive the attacking phases of play.

He is particularly adept at providing dangerous progressive passes forward and this is a crucial attribute to have as a midfielder.

Dubbed as "outstanding" previously by journalist Henry Winter, Longstaff averages 5.32 progressive passes per game, 2.22 touches in the attacking penalty box and 3.55 progressive passes received, as per FBref.

Clearly able to dictate the tempo of a match with his exquisite passing range and composure, his main strength is covering ground and winning possession back for his team, having averaged 3.8 balls recovered, 1.3 tackles and 3.2 duels won this term.

As a result of his impressive displays that have caught the eye, Longstaff is now worth £26m (€30m), as per Football Observatory, which is a testament to how much he's improved in recent years.

Declan Rice became the most expensive West Ham United academy graduate in the history of the club when he completed his move away from the London Stadium this year.

The England international signed for Arsenal for a club-record £105m, which is a record between two English clubs and just shy of the British transfer record of £106.8m that was set by Enzo Fernandez' move to Chelsea from Benfica.

West Ham's current most valuable former academy players:

Declan Rice

£78m

Josh Cullen

£11.2m

Ben Johnson

£8.6m

Toni Martinez

£6m

Sorba Thomas

£5.2m

A number of talented players have come through the youth set-up for the Hammers over the years and the likes of Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, and Rio Ferdinand paved the way for them when they became England stars after starting their careers in London.

Rice appears to be the next academy graduate who is set to enjoy a fantastic career now that he has moved to Champions League side Arsenal, but West Ham do not always make the best decisions over their young prospects.

One player whom David Moyes may now regret allowing to move on too early is central midfielder Pierre Ekwah, who departed the club in January to sign for Championship side Sunderland.

How many appearances did Ekwah make for West Ham?

The French battler did not make a single first-team appearance for the Hammers during his time at the London Stadium but did catch the eye with his performances at youth level.

He racked up nine goals and three assists in 39 U21 matches before his move to the Black Cats. However, that was not enough to convince Moyes to hand him an opportunity to impress at senior level.

Ekwah did showcase his quality against first-team opposition in the EFL Trophy for West Ham, though, during the first half of the 2022/23 campaign.

The midfield ace averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.00 across three appearances against Walsall, MK Dons, and Cheltenham as he caught the eye on and off the ball.

His creativity was on full display with two key passes per game for his teammates to open up the opposition's defence at the top end of the pitch. Meanwhile, no Hammers player managed more than 1.4 key passes per match throughout the Premier League season last term.

He also made two tackles and interceptions combined per outing and won 54% of his individual duels, as per Sofascore, which showed that the young gem was ready to deal with the physicality of the professional game.

These displays for West Ham came after he started his career with Chelsea, where Ekwah scored five goals and provided two assists in 24 matches for their U18 side.

How much was Ekwah worth at West Ham?

At the time of his move to Sunderland in January 2023, FootballTransfers placed the central midfielder's Expected Transfer Value (xTV) at just €60k (£52k).

He had yet to make the first senior appearance of his career and the Black Cats took a leap of faith to sign him from the London-based side as Tony Mowbray seemingly saw the potential there for Ekwah to be an excellent option for his team.

Whereas, Moyes never offered him the chance to shine in a West Ham shirt in a competitive setting and sanctioned a permanent exit for him in January, without seeing what he could do out on loan or in a match for his first-team.

How many games has Ekwah played for Sunderland?

Mowbray has made the France U20 international a key cog in his Black Cats side this season and he has made 25 appearances for the club in total this year.

However, Ekwah did not become an immediate success at the Stadium of Light as the second half of last season was a struggle at times.

He had not played any senior football before his move to Wearside and the end of the 2022/23 campaign was his introduction to the professional game.

The French gem averaged an unimpressive Sofascore rating of 6.57 across 14 Championship appearances for Sunderland, which was the 23rd-highest score within their squad. This shows that the midfield maestro struggled to adapt at first as he was not among the club's top performers.

Ekwah, who journalist Josh Bunting once hailed as "excellent", has now found his feet at senior level, though, and has emerged as an outstanding player for Mowbray at the start of the 2023/24 campaign.

He has averaged an excellent Sofascore rating of 7.27 across six Championship games so far this term, which is the fifth-highest score within the club, and caught the eye with his fantastic performances in midfield.

The former Chelsea prospect has been reliable in possession with 90% of his attempted passes being completed and showcased his defensive instincts with three tackles and interceptions per game, to go along with two goals, as per Sofascore.

How much is Ekwah worth now?

At the time of writing (29/09/2023), FootballTransfers has placed his xTV at €3.4m (£2.9m) and this shows that his market value has skyrocketed since leaving West Ham in January.

His xTV has soared by a staggering 5,566% from the initial €60k that he was valued at earlier this year, which shows that exposure to first-team football has helped him to thrive as a player.

Mowbray and Sunderland showed faith in the young dynamo's ability and they are now benefitting from it on the pitch with his sublime performances in the Championship this season.

Ekwah also has the time, at the age of 21, to develop and increase his value further at the Stadium of Light, which could be helped if they are able to secure promotion to the Premier League.

Therefore, Moyes had a mare with the sale of the former Chelsea academy prospect in January as his xTV has soared since his London Stadium exit and the Scottish head coach did not give him a chance to prove himself with the Hammers.

West Ham could also have sent him out on loan instead of sanctioning a permanent move in order to see how he would fare with regular first-team football.

This could have given the manager the evidence he needed to make a decision on the player's future, instead of doing so without knowing how he would cope with senior games.

The selectors have left out Barry McCarthy and Craig Young from the squad that took part in the recently concluded tri-series in Deventer

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-2018

Joshua Little gets congratulated by Jacob Mulder and Craig Young after taking his maiden international wicket•Peter Della Penna

Joshua Little and Andy McBrine have been recalled to a 14-man Ireland squad that will take on India in two T20Is on June 27 and 29 in Malahide. Gary Wilson will continue to captain the side.Little, 18, is a left-arm fast bowler who has played only four T20s so far – two of them T20Is – and was part of the Ireland team in the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in January this year. McBrine, 25, is an offspinning allrounder who has already played 30 ODIs and 19 T20Is, though his last T20I was in March 2017.Ireland squad

Gary Wilson (capt), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell , Josh Little, Andy McBrine, Kevin O’Brien, William Porterfield, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, James Shannon, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson
IN: Josh Little, Andy McBrine
OUT: Barry McCarthy, Craig Young

Ireland have played only one T20I against India, back in 2009 at Trent Bridge during the World T20 that year. India won that game by eight wickets with 4.3 overs to spare, thanks to Zaheer Khan’s 4 for 19.The Ireland selectors have left out Barry McCarthy and Craig Young from the squad that took part in the recently concluded tri-series in Deventer, where Ireland won one match, lost two and tied one game.Before the series against India, Ireland will play a T20 against Sussex Sharks at the Arundel Castle Cricket Ground on June 24, which will also be Ed Joyce’s testimonial match. Joyce announced his retirement after Ireland made their long-awaited Test debut.Andrew White, the chairman of selectors, said the squad for the India matches had been chosen with a view to giving exposure to players for the future as well as being competitive, and the game against Sussex would help finalise Ireland’s XI.”The selectors have chosen what we believe to be a strong, in-form squad for this format of the game that balances experience with youth,” White said. “Our deliberations were around finding a side that was competitive now, but with an eye on the future.”Many in the squad will be either travelling to Sussex this weekend for the Ed Joyce Testimonial match on Sunday, or will be re-joining the senior squad from their English County sides. We had a good look at a number of players on the recent tri-series in the Netherlands and this weekend’s match in Sussex will firm up the decisions made on the final playing eleven for the first fixture on Wednesday.”White identified building a good group of players for the World T20 qualifiers as one of the aims.”We will continue our approach of providing opportunities for a wider pool of players to gain experience in T20 cricket on the international stage,” he said. “With around 12 months to go to the World T20 Cup qualifiers, we are looking to build a competitive squad for that qualification stage and hopefully propel us into the main tournament in 2020.”

Manchester United had any momentum that they had been building come to a crashing halt against Bournemouth, who sent those at Old Trafford a reminder as to just how many problems Erik ten Hag still faces. The Red Devils are outside the top four in the Premier League with injuries to deal with and the kind of inconsistent form that doesn't often end in Champions League qualification come May.

They may look towards the next two transfer windows to solve the problems they may have believed they solved during last summer, only to suffer more than ever under Ten Hag. With that said, the former Ajax manager has reportedly identified a shock top target when the summer window swings open at the end of the current campaign.

Man Utd transfer news

After winning the Carabao Cup and finishing inside the Premier League's top four last season, United seemed a club on the up again. They then added the likes of Andre Onana, Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount to seemingly solve any remaining issues in their side. Yet here the Red Devils are, approaching the halfway mark in the Premier League with defeats against Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion to their name, alongside a disastrous Champions League group stage campaign. In desperate need of reinforcements, United could now make a surprise move.

According to The Sun, Manchester United have made Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips a top target in the summer transfer window and Ten Hag, who is a "big fan" of the former Leeds United man, wants the Red Devils to be at the front of the queue with the Red Devils plotting a move. A source said:

“United are watching the situation with Phillips very carefully. He is likely to go out on loan in January, but he will then be looking for a permanent switch in the summer, and Ten Hag wants to be right at the front of the queue. He is a fan of the way Phillips plays, and thinks his style is perfectly suited to United and to the philosophy he is trying to instil in the group.

“Plus, the new investors want the club to focus on investing in and developing English players, and Phillips still remains one of the best English players in the Premier League. It wouldn’t be the first time a player has moved from City to United, but it’s always controversial.”

Man Utd transfer would be shock move for "excellent" Phillips

Having previously played for Leeds, a move to Manchester United could already be a controversial one for Phillips, but now that he's played for Manchester City, it would likely be one of the most shocking transfers of the summer. The England international, who has been praised as "excellent" by Gareth Southgate in the past, wouldn't be the first player to have played for both clubs, but it would remain a surprise.

Players to have played for Manchester United and Manchester City

Peter Schmeichel

Carlos Tevez

Denis Law

Brian Kidd

Peter Beardsley

With that said, when the summer arrives, Phillips, who shares the same agent as Luke Shaw, will certainly be one to keep an eye on. The Manchester City midfielder could shock the rest of the Premier League with his next move.

da realsbet： A blockbuster London derby takes centre stage this evening as Tottenham Hotspur host Chelsea.

da bet7： The Blues have only won two of their last seven matches in the Premier League as injuries to several key players, including Christopher Nkunku and Ben Chilwill, have curtailed their early season hopes.

Tottenham, meanwhile, have been in imperious form since the arrival of Ange Postecoglu and remain the only side in the division to have their unbeaten record intact.

Postecoglu's unstoppable duo of Heung-min Son and James Maddison will be looking to cause further damage this evening by adding to their 17 goal contributions between them in the league.

They face a Chelsea defence that is only behind Manchester City, Arsenal and Newcastle United for expected goals against (xGA), as per Understat.

One man who has featured heavily in Mauricio Pochettino's backline this term is centre-back Axel Disasi.

Axel Disasi's season in numbers

Disasi arrived for £38.8m from Monaco in the summer and has since established himself in the Argentine's plans, featuring in nine of their ten Premier League fixtures.

The 25-year-old has impressed with his ability to carry the ball out of defence and make killer passes through the thirds, complementing his 50% dribble success rate with a 92% pass completion, as per Sofascore.

With Pochettino deploying a possession-based style that requires patience in their pursuit to exploit gaps, Disasi's elegance and ability on the ball have played a vital role in the Blues build-up phase.

In their match against Tottenham this evening, however, Chelsea will likely have to surrender possession and set-up to hit Spurs on the counter-attack.

Given the threat posed by the hosts through the devastating Son and Maddison, the Frenchman will need to be on the ball defensively.

Unfortunately, the £80k per-week titan hasn't performed particularly well in a defensive capacity, ranking in the bottom 8% against his positional peers in the Premier League this term for interceptions, bottom 10% for blocks and bottom 1% for tackles, as per FBref.

That said, Pochettino could ruthlessly ditch Disasi for his former Monaco teammate, Benoit Badiashile, this evening.

Benoit Badiashile's Chelsea career in numbers

Badiashile capped his return from injury in style with a goal against Blackburn Rovers that sealed Chelsea's place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

It was a goal that meant everything, not just for the Blues, but for a player who had suffered an injury-ravaged spell and had been forced to watch on from the sidelines since May.

Benoit Badiashile vs Axel Disasi's Premier League stats

Benoit Badiashile 22/23

Stats per 90

Axel Disasi 23/24

1.39

Tackles

0.57

1.59

Interceptions

0.46

0.99

Tackles (Def 3rd)

0.23

3.48

Aerials won

2.52

0.90

Fouls committed

0.57

7.56

Ball recoveries

5.50

3.38

Clearances

2.75

All stats via FBref.

Lauded as a "complete defender" by his former Monaco coach Nelson Caldeira for his ice-cold temperament, ability with the ball at his feet and exceptional tackling ability, the 22-year-old has combined those three attributes to leave a lasting impression at Chelsea.

Whilst his ball-playing abilities are a vital cog in Pochettino's machine, they will be compromised against Tottenham with the likelihood that the visitors will need to do a lot of defending, and that is where Badiashile's freak physical attributes could come into play.

The two-cap France international showcased with his performances last term that he has the edge over Disasi in a defensive capacity when comparing their respective statistics in the Premier League (table above).

With the likes of Son and Maddison terrorising their back line, Chelsea will need to be organised at the back and by taking the above statistics into account, 6 foot 4 Badiashile has demonstrated that he's the better all-round defender than Disasi and could be the better option to combat the hosts attacking prowess.

Teams in the Hundred are looking very different with players off to the CPL and international duty

Jake Lintott29-Aug-2022It’s been a bittersweet week. We had two really good wins, against Welsh Fire and in a difficult game against Trent Rockets, and it’s still special to win, even if you’re not really in the running for the knockout stages. You want to play for personal pride through to the end, and to trip other teams up if you can.It’d be great to finish with a win against Northern Superchargers on Wednesday, but we’re still disappointed with the position that we got ourselves into at the start of the season. It’d be great for us to finish on a real high by winning at Headingley. It’s crazy how tight the table is and if we win, we wouldn’t end up missing out on the knockout stages by many points at all.The atmosphere at our home games has been great and the fans have really got behind Southern Brave. That’s not been the case at every venue we’ve been to so we’re pretty lucky in that regard. It still feels like there’s a real hype around the Hundred and it feels like the standard has gone to the next level this year.Related

• Alex Davies, Ross Whiteley script turnaround to keep Rockets waiting on play-off spot

• Strauss review proposes smaller Championship top tier, 'revamped' 50-over competition

• The Hundred play-off scenarios: Five men's teams in contention, Brave and Invincibles eye women's final

When you look through the squads, they’re much stronger than last season because of the number of top overseas players that have been involved. It’s been awesome to go up against some of the world’s best but some of the teams are looking very different in terms of personnel heading into the final stages with players leaving for international duty or other leagues like the CPL.There’s so much cricket being played at the moment, all around the world, and the schedules are carnage. I’d love competitions to try and work together a little bit more: when they go up against each other, you end up with worse availability in both, which obviously affects the standard.There’s been lots of chat about the schedule all summer and it has been interesting to hear about the high-performance review. I haven’t played much first-class cricket but I look at the guys who are playing four-day cricket week in, week out and it makes me tired just looking at them. There’s going to have to be some kind of compromise somewhere.Personally, I think you could have three groups of six in the Blast and play 10 group games each, rather than 14, and you could have a three-division County Championship too. That would make Division One really strong and we’d still have 10 first-class games in the season – the same number they play in Australia, for example.I don’t envy Andrew Strauss having to make decisions on it because it is so hard to please everyone involved in the game, but ultimately, I think they will have to cut things back a little bit. There’s just so much going on at the moment: if you play in the Hundred final this weekend, you might start a Championship game 36 hours later.You have to try and find a way of looking after players. People don’t always take travel into account and most of our training is geared towards preparation for the next game: finding time to do much technical work when you’re playing so often is really hard. Volume is a big concern from the players’ perspective.I made my List A debut while playing for England Lions earlier this year and I’m desperate to play more 50-over cricket. It should be a big part of the schedule, for me: if you have 50-over World Cups to prepare for, you have to be playing one-day cricket consistently. At the moment, because I don’t play much red-ball cricket for Warwickshire, I find myself training with them for most of the year, but I only play for them for about five weeks, in the Blast.There are some very good players who have missed out on Hundred contracts this year and in future, you could have more than one wildcard pick per team. I got wildcarded last year because Southern Brave needed a wristspinner and I had done well in the Blast. It would be great for other players to have the same opportunity after breakthrough seasons for their counties.We travel to Leeds on Monday and we have a team meal with our women’s team there. We’ve got a great relationship with them and do lots of stuff together. They’re a great team to watch and we always try to get there before we play to watch their games: it’s really impressive how Charlotte Edwards has got them playing.They’ve got all bases covered. Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt are a pretty formidable opening partnership and Amanda-Jade Wellington’s legspin has been huge for them. For me, they’re far and away the best team in that competition, so hopefully they’ll go all the way.

Manchester City have been alerted to the availability of an exciting star who could be available for nothing in the summer of 2024, according to a report.

Man City's rise under Sheikh Mansour

Undoubtedly, Manchester City fans will now claim that they deserve a seat at the top table of English football and it is hard to argue with considering their trophy haul from the 2010's onwards under Sheikh Mansour. No fewer than seven Premier League titles, three FA Cup triumphs, six EFL Cups and one Champions League trophy have made their way to the Etihad Stadium over the last twelve years or so and Citizens boss Pep Guardiola has signalled his intent to keep the good times rolling in the blue half of Manchester.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has shared some quotes from Guardiola regarding their domestic dominance and his desire to prolong their success on social media platform X, as he stated: Guardiola: "Now Man City are a reality, we want to stay at top level as long as possible. We won't stop". "Maybe it’s uncomfortable because we were not in the elite and now we are. Maybe it’s uncomfortable. But we were there, we're there, we want to be there in the future."

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva was a Barcelona transfer target alongside fielding further interest from Paris Saint-Germain and Saudi Arabian clubs in the summer; however, the Portugal international chose to stay put at the Etihad Stadium by signing a new deal tying him to the club until 2026. Making more history at the Sky Blues has been revealed as a key motivation for his decision to remain at Manchester City, with the player saying:

"We heard that four titles in a row has never been done before so we want to try to do that. It is so tough every year, especially when you remember that two of the titles were just a difference of one point and won in the last games."

Man City could sign Toni Kroos on a free transfer

As per The Daily Star, Manchester City have been offered the chance to sign Toni Kroos on a free transfer when his contract at Real Madrid expires in the summer of 2024. The former Germany international would be keen to spend some time in England before finishing his illustrious playing career. He already has a pre-existing relationship with Guardiola, as the pair worked together at Bayern Munich.

Labelled as a "spectacular player" by his former coach Zinedine Zidane, Kroos has gone on to rack up 430 appearances for La Liga superpower Real Madrid, notching 28 goals and 92 assists in the process (Toni Kroos stats – Transfermarkt).

Despite their habit of recruiting top young talent, acquiring experienced individuals who have been over the course many times is hardly an alien concept to Manchester City and bringing someone like Kroos to the Etihad Stadium on a free transfer could be an excellent piece of business.

Sam Robson. Remember him on the list of former England openers? He has just made his first century of the season

ECB Reporters Network18-Sep-20181:55

Yorkshire edge towards safety

ScorecardSam Robson’s first century of the season saw Middlesex get the better of the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match with Derbyshire at Lord’s.The former England opener ended a run drought with 134 – becoming Middlesex’s first century maker since May 6.Max Holden (96 not out) was also closing in on a first century in Middlesex colours as the hosts finished an enthralling day at 350 for 8, only the second time this season they have realised a fourth batting point.But late in the day veteran seamer Tony Palladino (4-66) bowled the visitors back into contention with a spell of 4- for 3 in 15 balls.Given Middlesex’s struggles with the bat this season it was no surprise to see them stuck in under cloudy skies for the sixth time in seven red-ball games at HQ this season.Understandably then it was a nervy start – 20 balls and the odd play and miss passed before the first run clicked up on the board.Robson broke the shackles with two fours in an over off Palladino – the second boundary appearing to lift a season-load of weight from his shoulders as thereafter he settled down to play with increasing assurance.At the other end, left-hander Nick Gubbins found life more of a struggle, a spate of cameos having left him short of confidence.Nevertheless, the pair compiled only their third half-century opening stand of the season, reaching 64 before Hardus Viljoen made the breakthrough trapping Gubbins lbw.Sam Robson eases one through the covers•Getty ImagesIt would be the visitors’ only wicket of the morning session as Robson moved smoothly to 50 off 83 balls with nine boundaries, ably supported by Stevie Eskinazi who had the honour of receiving his county cap at the start of the lunch interval.There would be no 50 to accompany the honour, the South African-born wicketkeeper/batsman falling for 35, lbw to spinner Matthew Critchley.Skipper Dawid Malan was next to go, a skittish innings of 16 ending when he aimed an ill-advised hook at Viljoen, the ball arrowing its way to the safe hands of Luis Reece at long-leg.His dismissal more often than not this season would have heralded a collapse, but youngster Holden came in and looked composed from his first ball and as a result he and Robson regained the initiative.Robson’s hundred arrived courtesy of a single to mid-on in the last over before tea, the applause from the Middlesex faithful seeing him raise his bat in delight and relief in equal measure.The pair played with increasing authority at the start of the final session, raising the 250 – a figure reached only once previously in the first innings by the Lord’s tenants this season.The century stand came at almost a run a minute and Holden’s 50 arrived shortly afterwards complete with six boundaries.The dizzy heights of 300 were in sight when Palladino new ball in hand changed the complexion of the day. A devastating spell began when he found the edge of Robson’s bat ending an otherwise chanceless innings and a stand of 132. Tail-up Palladino struck again with his next ball, new man Robbie White get a thinner edge to Gary Wilson at first slip.James Harris survived the hat-trick ball only to depart in Palladino’s next over, trapped on the back foot.The hosts had subsided from 298-3 to 304-6 but Palladino wasn’t finished yet, getting another lbw shout upheld to remove Martin Andersson.With the ball now doing plenty Holden was given a life when Wilson shelled a chance at first slip off Lockie Ferguson.That scare survived, Middlesex briefly steadied the ship until James Fuller, having just hit Ferguson for six top-edged the next ball down to Critchley at third man.Ethan Bamber though helped raise the 350 and kept alive hopes of a Holden century in the morning.

Kylian Mbappe tore the net with a bullet opener to extend Paris Saint-Germain's aggregate lead against Real Sociedad in the Champions League last-16.

Article continues below

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• Mbappe took just 15 minutes to score the opener
• Found the net from an acute angle
• The net got damaged as the ball went in

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The French forward received the ball near the touchline and after showing quick feet to Igor Zubeldia he rifled away a shot towards goal from a tight angle. The ball flew in through the far post and such was the power behind it, that the net got damaged.

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• WATCH THE CLIP

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  English referee Michael Oliver had to pause play for a while as he was informed on the radio that the ball had damaged the net. PSG had been excellent in the first half as they not only strangled the opposition with their incessant pressure in attack but also kept things tight at the back to completely stifle the hosts.

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  PSG lead the tie by a three-goal margin and if Mbappe is allowed to play the full 90 minutes, then the margin could get only bigger. Of course, Luis Enrique attracted the forward's ire by substituting him during his side's last game against Monaco.